


Newsies Of Camp-Half-blood

by Current_Queen_Of_Hell



Category: Newsies - All Media Types, Newsies!: the Musical - Fierstein/Menken, Percy Jackson and the Olympians - Rick Riordan, The Heroes of Olympus - Rick Riordan
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Pining, lots of dumb jokes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-19
Updated: 2019-07-04
Packaged: 2020-03-07 21:39:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 11,854
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18881764
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Current_Queen_Of_Hell/pseuds/Current_Queen_Of_Hell
Summary: The seven and Reyna, Nico and WIll are sent to Pulitzer high to find 10 (and a half including Les) demigods and bring them to camp safely. This, however, proves to be quite difficult as the Seven hadn't anticipated how close and stubborn those 10 kids could be.





	1. Prologue

**Author's Note:**

> Aight so this idea is kind weird and slightly dumb but what can I say, I love newsies and I love Percy Jackson (can you tell?)  
> Also basically all newsies will at least be mentioned but there's so fucking many of them it's basically impossible to put in all of them, ok.  
> Kudos, comments are always appreciated.

Percy Jackson, hero of Olympus, savior of the gods and demigod supreme did not appreciate begin thrust into another quest. Much less one that involved school. Nonetheless here he was sitting with the rest of the seven and Reyna and Nico waiting for Chiron to get into the explanation of why the fuck all of them were needed for a simple quest to a New Yorker high school.

Next, to him, Annabeth was idly playing with her necklace while listening patiently and occasionally writing down the names of the demigods they were supposed to find. She smiled occasionally at a few of the names but other than that she simply nodded along and asked for clarification of a name’s spelling. On his other side Leo and Piper had long ago fallen asleep on each other, Piper’s head rested on Leo’s shoulder whose head was comfortably lying on her head. It looked sweet enough and to be honest, Percy found that Piper and Leo had one of the best friendships in all of Camp, only rivaled by Percy and Grover himself. Reyna and Nico were also patiently listening, ablate slightly confused as to why exactly they were here but neither of them was complaining so that was something. Frank and Hazel were probably paying attention but with Jason zapping them awake a few times who was to know how awake they truly were.

Percy, himself, had really no desire to listen to what was being said but he assumed it must be important given that Chiron had chosen them for the quest and not nine or ten other people. Chiron had also said that Will might be tagging along as well which had visibly made Nico’s day.

“Alright, I need all of you to do your best, it is important that all of them come here safe and unharmed.”

“Chiron, not to be rude, but why exactly are these,” Annabeth silently counted all the names in her notebook, “10 and a half, kids so important?” Percy looked at her in confusion,

“10 and a half?”

“Les Jacobs, he’s the little brother of two others, he doesn’t count as a full person so whoever gets to supervise David also gets Les.” In the corner of his eye, Percy could see Leo furrowing his brows and trying to catch up with the conversation after just waking up.

“Annabeth, it is amazing enough as is that 11 demigods have survived on their own without knowing that they are half-bloods and I’d like to keep it that way which is why all of you will choose one person to supervise as you said.” They nodded and Chiron gave a small wave before leaving the room to probably play Pinochle with Mr. D. Silence fell over the room as Annabeth looked at the list and wrote her name next to ‘David Jacobs (&Les Jacobs)’. She passed the paper to Percy.

“Just write your name next to the person you want to chaperone and we can leave tomorrow.” Percy nodded and looked through the names. Some of them were truly bizarre others on the normal side. After skimming through it for a few seconds he wrote his name next to ‘Jack Kelly’. He was about to pass the sheet of paper to Leo but Annabeth stopped him.

“What is it, wise girl?”

“Leo, if you write your name next to Racetrack Higgins I will personally skin you alive.”

“What? Why?!” Leo stared at her incredulously.

“We don’t need more trouble than we will have without you and a guy literally called ‘racetrack’ would cause.” Leo huffed but wrote his name down next to another. Percy couldn’t make out which one but it definitely wasn’t ‘Racetrack’. After him, everyone passed the list around and soon enough everyone began filling out of the Big House and into his or her own cabins to pack their bags for the Quest. Percy leisurely walked to the Poseidon cabin, not entirely sure what exactly to pack. Maybe a week’s worth of clothes would be enough and a few notebooks so he wouldn’t be in detention too often. Why had Chiron insisted that they attend school there? They had all decided to leave in the morning so that way they would arrive at the Apartment Chiron had gotten for them on Sunday morning and would be ready to attend school on Monday and find the demigods so they could get the hell out of there.


	2. Don't laugh in math class, kids

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Leo and Percy get themselves into detention but they also get an invitation to lunch with the Newsies so that's not so bad.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is from Percy's perspective

That night none of us got any sleep. I spent the entire night thinking about the kids we would be meeting, why were their names so weird? Why were they still alive? As morbid as that thought might sound it is valid. It’s so uncommon for a single demigod to survive for this long much less 10 teenagers and their little brother. Maybe that’s why they were still alive because there were so many monsters were afraid to attack? Who knew, I certainly didn’t. I was just hoping that that Jack Kelly guy would be nice enough to hang around.

When I woke up the next morning it was to the sound of loud knocking on my door. I groaned and while trying to unravel from my blankets managed to fall out of my bed. It was not a very good start to the day. While stumbling to the door I pulled on an old camp T-shirt and a pair of sweat pants.

“What do you want?” I asked while opening the door. And there stood my beautiful girlfriend, wide-awake like as if it wasn’t 7 fucking am.

“We’re leaving in 20 minutes seaweed brain.” I nodded still half asleep but more awake now that I knew what was going on.

“Ok… Ok yeah ok I’ll be there.” She nodded and walked past me into the big cabin. She sat on my bed sighing slightly and letting herself drop on her back while I changed. We stayed like that for a few minutes until she spoke up again,

“What do you think they will be like?”

“What do you mean?” She sighed again.

“I mean, Chiron said that they’re all orphans and that they grew up in various foster homes and orphanages, like us.”

“Yeah, so?” I didn’t really understand what she meant but I’d get there. Eventually. It did hurt seeing her so… so… the only word that could describe the emotions displayed on her face was hurt. She looked hurt.

“Well look what it did to Leo and the others,” She paused, “And now add the fact that they go to Pulitzer High, which mind you is a horrible school from what I’ve read, I really can’t imagine what they will be like.”

“Hey, wise-girl, it’s gonna be fine. You’re right, being demigods and being alone must have been a lot but there are 11 of them. I’m sure they found a family in each other, yeah?” She nodded and smiled. Standing up, Annabeth pressed a small kiss to my cheek and grabbed my hand pulling me out of my cabin. I had the insight o quickly grab my duffle bag.

Maybe she was right but maybe they would be completely different. Who knows.

 

The drive to the Manhattan apartment Chiron had organized wasn’t very long but we did have to split into two cars since we didn’t really have a bus on hand and ten people in one car isn’t really possible.

The apartment itself was pretty nice and it made me wonder where Chiron got it from, and why he even had it.

There were five rooms and Reyna made sure that no couples were in a room together, I’m assuming she wasn’t very keen on finding anyone making out. So there I was setting up my room with Jason. Leo and Piper had decided to share a room, Reyna and Annabeth (Slightly surprising but not too much), Hazel and Nico of course and lastly Will and Frank which was weirdly enough not as surprising as it should be given that they probably have never even really talked to each other but who was I to judge.

The day went by quickly with a few of us going to dinner at a local diner called Jacobi’s while the rest (Nico, Leo, Will, and Reyna) stayed behind to play video games although I’m at least 90% sure that Nico and Leo were the only ones playing while Reyna and Will probably had a very mature and educated conversation.

After dinner, we all went to sleep quickly none of us really excited for getting up early the next morning but such is life.

 

This time I woke up to screaming from the kitchen. What a way to start the day. I quickly jumped out of my bed, running to the kitchen thinking that there was a monster or someone died. I was wrong.

“LEO NO!”

“LEO YES!” Of course, it was something involving Leo. I could’ve guessed that much.

“What… it going on?” I turned to Hazel who was standing next to me trying to stop herself from giggling. Unable to say anything she pointed at Annabeth trying to stop Leo from drinking what looked like his fifth coffee judging from the number of empty paper cups on the counter. Leo was dressed in a rumpled shirt and jeans that had grease and oil stains on them. Next, to him, Annabeth truly looked like a princess, her hair tied in a French braid, or whatever it was called. She wore a cropped sweater that had ‘Harvard’ written on it and a pair of high-waisted jeans. She looked gorgeous. Unlike Leo, who looked like a gremlin. Tragic really.

“Guys, the school bus will be coming around here in like 10 minutes.” I turned to find Jason, already fully dressed, standing in the doorway with his bag slung over his shoulder. Next, to him, Piper stood looking much less awake but still beautiful. Damn those Aphrodite kids and their natural beauty. Begrudgingly Leo set down his cup and grabbed his own bag. We all filed out of the apartment, Jason locking the door behind him.

The walk to the bus stop was boring and I’d honestly wished that I could just go visit my mom instead. Our apartment wasn’t far from here and it would be nice to see her, Paul and, of course, Estelle again. Maybe I could visit them during our stay here.

We boarded the bus looking for a few empty seats close to each other. The good thing about being in the very beginning of the route the bus took was that most seats were still empty. We decided to sit in the very back.

Throughout the ride more and more kids got on the bus, most listening to music or talking to their friends, some doing their homework. It felt kind of nostalgic to be here again.

“Jack, what the fuck are you doing?” I turned to see an exasperated girl staring at a boy, probably Jack, lounging across two seats wearing what looked like a newspaper crown.

“I’m nobbin’ with all the muckety mucks, I’m blowin’ my dough an’ goin’ delux!” A few kids around him laughed while the girl simply let her head drop on the seat in front of her. The one occupied by Jack.

“Jack, I swear to god, that makes absolutely no fucking sense.”

“First of all, rude, second of all, rude.”

“Dude if you land us in detention today I’m canceling our friendship.” Another boy spoke up and Jack looked impossibly offended.

“You wouldn’t dare.”

“Try me.” Apparently, our little group of demigods was the only ones fazed by this exchange as every other kid simply kept looking at their phone or talking to their friends. Must be a daily occurrence then.

The rest of the ride was filled with equally bizarre conversations and a lot of pouting and sighing. Their teachers must hate them.

Finally, we arrived at school and everyone got out of the overfilled and stuffy bus. Annabeth handed everyone their schedule and gave us all a small thumbs up before heading to her first class. Typical Athena kids, always perfect students and never time for friends. What horrible people. Shrugging I looked at my schedule and then at Leo’s who was standing beside me to find that we had the same class on Monday morning. I smiled and nudged him to follow me into the huge building. He grinned, “Y’know, I can already tell that this school will fuck me over.”

“Yeah man, look at it! It’s all grey. It looks like a fucking asylum forms a horror movie or something.” He laughed and we fell into light chatter about this and that and about all the horrible things the school had.

The math class was boring. I dozed off while Leo made several paper airplanes and solved basically every single equation within literal seconds. Who would have thought that he was this good at Math, huh. This went on until suddenly the door burst open and two kids walked in. I recognized both of them from the bus.

“Mr. DaSilva, Mr. Higgins, why are you late?” The teacher, Mr. Hearst said from behind his teeth. 

“The Delanceys was being’ dicks to a freshman.” The blond piped up, his hands in his pockets looking incredibly bored.

“And what does that have to do with you being late?”

“Well, we couldn’t very well let them pick on a kid, right?” The taller of the two grinned and walked to his seat next to me. The other boy followed and sat in the seat in front of me.

“Both of you, detention. This is the eight time this month.” Neither said anything but nodded, laughing at something that the taller had said under his breath. Mr. Hearst sighed and turned to continue writing on the board. Something about quadratic functions. I wasn’t really paying attention I was more occupied with staring as the two boys passed notes and kept laughing. I jumped a bit when Leo leaned over to me and whispered, “Hey, man, I think that Albert dude is one of the kids we’re supposed to look after.”

“What? How would you even know that?”

“I don’t know they just give off that Demigod vibe.”

“Demigod vibe?”

“Fuck you! You know that ‘I’m probably gonna die before I turn twenty’ vibe.” I laughed louder than expected which got me a glare from the teacher. He stared at me for a few seconds but ultimately turned back around. 

“You sure? Because to me they simply seem like your everyday dumbass high school students.” I turned to look at them once more, “Look they’re literally whispering about something. It’s like right out of a bad movie.”

This time it was Leo who laughed louder than expected which got us another glare and this time even a scolding!

“Mr. Valdez, what is it that has you laughing during my class? Shouldn’t you focus on doing the exercises I told you to do?”

“Well you see sir, I’m already finished.”

“So you got a smart mouth as well? Well, wouldn’t you like to go to detention as well?” What? That’s literally no reason to send someone to detention?

“No offense, but that is literally so dumb. He only said that he’s done with the stuff you told us to do!”

“Mr. Jackson! Detention. Both of you. For disturbing class, again.” I heard a few other kids snicker but they quickly stopped and when Mr. Hearst threatened to send all of them to detention as well. It went quiet; the only sound the chalk on the board and Hearst’s occasional sigh. Annabeth would kill when she found out that I got us landed in detention on literally the first day of school. Great.

The boy next to me leaned over and whispered, “I hope you’re excited for two hours with the spider.”

“What?”

“Right you’re new, Mr. Snyder, he’s the spider. He’s head of detention.” I stared at him for a few seconds and was about to say something when the kid in front of me turned around and stuck out his hand.

“I’m Racetrack, but you can call me Race.” I weakly shook his hand and the other boy grinned equally as wide as Race.

“I’m Albert. Nice ta meet ya.”

“Percy Jackson, that’s Leo.” They looked over at Leo who smiled and waved a little. They waved back and looked at each other briefly.

“You guys are new right? Yeah, of course, you are, wanna sit with us and our friend group at lunch?” Albert asked. Before I could answer Leo piped up nodding vigorously.

“That’d be great. Right, Percy?”

“What? Yeah, right yeah. That’d be really nice.” Albert nodded and both turned back to their work, still talking to each other. Whatever they were talking about it was not math.

I quietly pulled out the phone that Leo had made for us, and texted Annabeth that Leo and I wouldn’t be at lunch with them. And, that we had detention. She didn’t take kindly to that second one.


	3. What the fuck is a newsie?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Lunch is a fucking mess.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one is from Leo's perspective.
> 
> I feel like I kinda fucked up Leo's personality in this. Percy's too. Idk man I gotta work on that some more.

Lunch came faster than I had expected but then who can blame me. It was summer, it was hot, school was shit, and I’d spent the first half of the day zoning out so that was that. I’d actually been really excited to hang out with Albert and Race during lunch they seemed fun. So when the bell rang to let everyone know that ‘it’s fucking lunch kiddos time to go to the fucking cafeteria’ as Percy had so nicely put it, I was out of my seat faster than he could finish his sentence and on my way to the cafeteria. Percy followed after me equally as fast and soon we found ourselves wading through the wave of students on their way to lunch. Great. It took us a while to get from one end of the school to the other but once we did we did not expect what we found. There sat Albert and Race and a few other kids along with… Piper and, Nico.  
Albert waved us over and Piper grinned when she saw us approaching. I waved back and we sat down on the bench. I sat between Albert and Piper. Percy sat between Nico and a girl I didn’t know. Nico scowled the entire time.

  
“I’m Katherine Plumber Pulitzer.” The girl next to Percy introduced herself and I nodded, introducing myself as well.

“Leo Valdez, bad boy supreme.” She stared at him and shook her head. She muttered a small ‘Oh god there’s another one’, which made Nico snort. I turned to the last person whose name I didn’t know yet. It was a girl who looked to be about a year older than me and, her arm was resting around Katherine’s shoulder.

“What’s up, I’m Sarah.” Yes, definitely Katherine’s girlfriend. That’s one less person I can flirt with. Damn. I felt someone nudging my side and I turned to find Piper staring at my food.

“What is it, Pipes? Picked the wrong food?”

“…Maybe.” I laughed and pushed my plate over to her taking hers and putting it in front of me. She grinned and gave me a quick hug and then began eating happily.

“You guys know each other?” Race asked through a mouth full of pizza. Damn, he was cute.

“Yeah, we, Piper, Neeks and a couple of others went to the same school before we came here,” Percy answered helpfully since I was too preoccupied with Piper’s vegetarian salad that honestly looked like it was at least two weeks old, but such is cafeteria food. The food was truly a tragedy. I never would’ve thought that I’d wish to have the food from camp but here I am wishing exactly that. What a time to be alive.  
They nodded and immediately bag chatting amongst each other, occasionally asking us a couple of questions but otherwise they talked about something or other. It involved quite a lot of ‘No race’ from Katherine and ‘Let him talk’ from Albert who seemed to be a very weak version of impulse control for Race.  
Suddenly everyone looked up when they heard a round of gasps. We turned to see a blond boy lying on the ground and the boy from the bus this morning standing next to him looking furious. Two boys, presumably bullies, stood and laughed occasionally poking the blond, smaller boy with their feet. Race sighs and turns to Albert.

“Dear me, what is that unpleasant aroma? I fear the sewer might have backed up during the night.” Albert snorted before standing up. He pulled Race with him pointing in the direction of the kid on the ground.

“As funny as that was, we can’t just leave Crutchie and Jack to fend themselves.”

  
“I mean, Jack’s gonna sort it out, ain’t he?” Katherine pinches his side and sends him a glare.

“Jack may be an idiot but he’s also a loyal idiot. He’s gonna get his ass sent to detention for Crutchie, again.”

“That don’t sound too bad I mean we can hang out then can’t we?” Katherine sighed and Albert proceeded to push Race toward the fight. They walked the short distance calmly and stopped shortly behind the two bullies. The others and I watched as the scene unfolded. Although Katherine and Sarah seemed very disinterested in the whole ordeal as if it were common. It probably was.

“Don’t ya think it’s kinda pathetic to pick on someone with a crutch?” The brothers turned to Albert who leisurely stood with his hands in his pockets. Race had thrown his arm around Albert’s shoulder and was pulling a pack of cigarettes out of his pocket, placing one in his mouth and lighting it. What a fucking idiot.

“Oscar, Morris, I always knew ya were dumb but this dumb? I couldn’t even imagine it in my wildest dreams.” Oscar and Morris scowl and Morris pushes at Race’s chest, making him drop his cigarette. Oscar stepped on it and Race groaned.

“Seriously, man?! That was my last one!” The two shrug and Jack, the guy from the bus, steps forward.

“Now that’s not nice, Morris.” The guy in question simply laughs and kicks Crutchie once more for emphasis.

“Yeah so? You gonna go home and cry to your mom? Oh wait, you don’t have one.” Jack scoffs and Oscar steps forward.

“I mean you could just drop that dumb crip, might save you a lotta trouble.” Now that was just a low blow. I was about to stand up and go over there when Nico pulled me back down from across the table. He glared at me and whispered, “Do not cause trouble. We don’t know if they’re monsters.”  
I scoff and whisper back, “Monsters they are just not the Greek kind.” Nico shakes his head and turns back to the scene. Jack steps even closer to the brothers while grabbing Crutchie’s crutch off the ground.

“Someday you might find yourself with a bum leg, how’d you like us picking on you then? Guess we could find out!” He proceeds to kick both of them in the legs, hard. They scream out in pain or rage, I can’t really tell to be honest. Jack begins running out of the cafeteria, the two right at his heels.  
Once all of them are out of the Cafeteria Crutchie, Race and Albert come back to the table and sit down.

“And I thought we could have a day without any Drama.” Crutchie sighed dramatically and sat down next to me, where Albert had formerly sat. Sarah laughed at the comment and put a piece of her cake into her mouth.

“It’s sad that you think that. You’re the newsies after all.” News what? Nico, Piper, and Percy seemed to have the same thought since Piper immediately help up her hand.

“What the actual fuck is a ‘Newsie’?” She said making air quotes. Katherine giggled.

“We’re all part of the school newspaper and Jack came up with the name back in middle school. Ever since then we’ve just been calling ourselves that.”

“Not to be rude or anything but that is one weird name.” Percy really should think before he speaks.

“That’s Jack for you. I’m sure you’ll meet him today at detention. He’s bound to get some after that stunt.”

“Yeah, it’s probably also not the only time he’s gonna get detention this week,” Sarah added helpfully.

“You wanna bet how often he gets it this week? I say five times.” Race suddenly speaks up after winning a game of rock paper scissors against Albert. Why they were playing I have absolutely no idea.

“Race, I’m never betting against you again. It’s impossible to win.” Sarah deadpans while stealing food from Race’s plate.

“No, it’s not. You just gotta get better at betting.”

“Yeah right. You’re cheating.” Race scowls but stops when Katherine smiles.

“I’ll bet. I say he’s gonna get detention three times.” Race nodded and turned to Albert.

“I say it’s gonna be four times.” Without another word, each one pulls out a five-dollar bill and puts it in Albert’s hat.

“I’ll ask the others during class later. I wonder where they are anyway.”

“Davey is probably in the library, Spot said he’s not coming today, and Specs and Romeo are probably off making out.” Everyone nodded and turned away from Sarah and back to their food.  
And then it went back to the way it was before the whole thing with Jack. Everyone walked amongst each other. Race and Albert were playing another game of Rock, Paper Scissors (and winning, much to Albert’s chagrin), Sarah and Katherine were being all mushy while talking about assignments they had due, Percy, Piper and I were flinging food at each other while Nico simply watched and probably cursed us in his head.

All in all the day after that was pretty uneventful. Detention was boring and annoying. Race beat me at Poker several times; he gave the money he won to a kid called Les so he could get himself some ice cream or something. Albert almost jumped out of a window but Sarah and Katherine stopped him so that was that. Generally, I realized, that this friend group was exactly, if not worse, that the kids at camp. They had even less impulse control than us!

That evening when we arrived home and we all sat down at dinner we all shared what we’d discovered. Annabeth seemed incredibly frustrated but then when did she not.

  
“You know what’s frustrating? This kid, Davey, he’s so fucking smart but I’m 98% sure that he has dyslexia.” I stared at her across the table no being able to fully comprehend what she was saying. As was so often the case. I may be a son of Hephaestus, which inherently makes me pretty smart, but there’s no way that I can rival Annabeth. She’s simply always four steps ahead of everyone else.

  
“And that’s frustrating because…?” Will asked, saying something for the first time that evening. He had mainly been talking to Nico, understandably.

  
“Because there’s so much he could do and there’s so much he could learn but dyslexia is making it basically impossible for him. It’s so frustrating to see someone so intelligent being held back this way!”  
We all nodded in agreement. We’d all felt that way at some point in our lives, be it about ourselves or someone else.

  
“On a completely unrelated note, I walked in on two guys making out today so that was fun.” Jason looked like he was dissociating while making that statement. Percy burst out laughing, almost spilling his coke.

  
“That must’ve been Specs and Romeo then.”

  
“Who?” Reyna, who hadn’t said anything all evening either, finally spoke up looking bewildered.

  
“Specs and Romeo. Two of the kids who may be demigods.”

  
“These names are insane. Whoever thought of them needs to get their priorities set.“ A round of laughter erupted from all around the table making even Reyna laugh a little.  
Yeah, this wouldn’t be too horrible.


	4. Movies and Groupchats

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A few into the newsies/CHB group chat, jack's dating life and plans for movie night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Racetrack = the woild is ya erster  
> Albert = Mothman Is Coming  
> Davey = poor guy’s head is spinning  
> Jack = Santa Feeee  
> Katherine = Fame works quicker  
> Sarah = Bad bitch 99  
> Spot = Brooklyn Bitch  
> Specs = I lost my shoe  
> Romeo = Gayest bitch on the block  
> Crutchie = Fight me
> 
> Percy = Seaweed brain  
> Annabeth = Wise girl  
> Leo = Super-sized McShizzle  
> Frank = Beast boy  
> Hazel = Actual treasure  
> Nico = Death boy  
> Will = Ray of sunshine  
> Reyna = Praetor of the year  
> Jason = Superman  
> Piper = McMeme
> 
> The beginning is from Annabeth's POV

_Alright, so, how do I say this?_

_I’ll just go for it._

_These boys are fucking idiots. Loyal and funny idiots, but still idiots. The two girls are okay, I suppose they act as some sort of impulse control for the others but the boys? Good Gods, they are fucking insane. To put this whole thing into context, I’d like to say that a few days after we arrived here and met a few of them we got their phone numbers and they said they’d add us to their group chat. I’m not really sure how I feel about it yet. I guess we’ll see._

I looked up from writing my journal entry at the sound of my phone going off. Looking at it I saw a new message from the group chat they’d added us to. They explained everyone’s tags but then seemingly forgot that we were in the chat in the first place.

 

 

 

Santa Feeee: (not so) Breaking news: I am sad again

Brooklyn Bitch: Literally no one gives a single shit Jack

The woild is ya erster: That’s not very nice Spot

Brooklyn Bitch: Fuck you

The woild is ya erster: If you insist

I lost my shoe: That’s disgusting please don’t

The woild is ya erster: You say that like I didn’t just walk in on you and Romeo making out

Gayest bitch on the block: It was for science

Fight me: I’ve literally never seen you do anything for science in your life and I’ve known you since we were like 5

Gayest bitch on the block: theres a first time for everything

Santa Feeee: Guys we’re getting off topic again

Mothman is coming: What was the topic again?

Santa Feeee: I’m sad and no one cares

Fame works quicker: What did Crutchie not swoon at your serenading?

Santa Feeee: Ok firstly, rude

Santa Feeee: Secondly, my serenading is great you fell for it

Fame works qicker: Yes, a dumb mistake on my part

Santa Feeee: I’m just gonna ignore that you said that

Santa Feeee: And lastly I did not serenade Crutchie

Fight me: I can attest to that

Santa Feeee: fuck I forgot you were in this group chat

Fight me: rude

The woild is ya erster: Jacks and crutchies relationship could easily be described in one sentence as:

The woild is ya erster: ‘When you highkey want someone but you trying to be lowkey about it’

Mothman is coming: yeah except that Jack ain’t really lowkey about it

Santa Feeee: can we like not do this in front of Crutchie?

Poor guy’s head is spinning: so you admit that you like him?

Santa Feeee: I don’t ‘like’ people

Bad bitch 99: That ain’t what you said when you confessed to me

Poor guy’s head is spinning: Sarah I though you were better than this? Does no one here know correct grammar?

Wise girl: I do

Death boy: I do

Supersized Mcshizzle: I do not

Mcmeme: I do not either

Superman: Come on guys we talked about this

Ray of sunshine: No we didnt

Superman: Not you too will I thought you were better than this

Seaweed brain: Bold of you to assume we know how to use grammar correctly

I lost my shoe: wait who are you people?

Fight me: That’s the new kids I told you about

I lost my shoe: oh yeah them

I lost my shoe: nice to meet you all

Gayest bitch on the block: Could you guys just kind of write your names? That’d be sweet thanks

Superman: I’m Jason Grace

Seaweed brain: He is beauty he is grace he will eat his stapler with a straight face

Superman: Percy!!!!!

Supersized Mcshizzle: Damn perce I didn’t know know you were that funny

Supersized McShizzle: I’m leo, bad boy supreme, supersized mcshizzle at your service

Fame works quicker: Man and I thought our friend group was dramatic

Wise girl: Just ignore them they’re dumb. I’m Annabeth

The woild is ya erster: I’s sure you’re equally as beautiful as your name

Wise girl: I’m sure you’re equally as dumb as your name

The woild is ya erster: That’s fair

Gayest bitch on the block: And you call me a flirt

The woild is ya erster: you’re literally called Romeo stfu

Santa Feeee: Can we maybe get back to introducing ourselves? It’s kinda confusing with just the screen names

Death boy: I’m Nico Di Angelo

The woild is ya erster: Sweet another Italian

Death boy: I can’t believe that I’m from the same country as you

The woild is ya erster: can you not

Death boy: I’m just speaking the truth here buddy

The woild is ya erster: I take no criticism from somebody who’s obviously still stuck in his emo phase

I lost my shoe: Race you have no right to talk you’re still stuck in your horse girl phase

The woild is ya erster: I stand by my love for horseraces

Ray of sunshine: Nico what the fuck did I tell you about being rude?

Death boy: not to be but I do what I want

Seaweed brain. Listen to your boyfriend or one day you might end up being single

Death boy: I can always just ask you out

Ray of sunshine: Do not

Seaweed brain: I thought I wasn’t your type?

Death boy: Are you still not over that?

Wise girl: He’s not trust me

McMeme: Finally some good romance drama going on

Death boy: Shut it piper we can always talk about your thing with Reyna and Jason

McMeme: There’s nothing to say, it was natural selection and I won

Mcmeme: I’m kidding I love you Reyna

Superman: Should I be concerned?

Santa feeee: Speaking from personal experience, yes, yes you should be very concerned

Santa Feeee: look at Sarah and Katherine they’re dating now

Fame works quicker: You could’ve kept me if your seduction skills had been any better

Bad bitch 99: yeah man you’re easy on the eyes but your pick up lines are shit

**Bad bitch 99 has removed Fight me from the chat**

Bad bitch 99: quick everyone write your seduction strategies so Jack can do better with Crutchie than he did with Katherine and me

Santa Feeee: I do not need any relationship advice from you guys when half of you are still pining over each other

Fame works quicker: Bullshit, the only ones still pining are Race and Albert. and Davey is single and ready to mingle

Poor guy’s head is spinning: I’ll just pretend that you didn’t write that

The woild is ya erster: we are not pining thank you very much

Mothman is coming: as if I’d go for a guy like Race

Mothman is coming: no offense

The woild is ya erster: none taken I wouldn’t go for me either

Mothman is coming: Race we talked about this

Bad bitch 99: aight this is getting depressing lets get back to writing out seduction strategies

Bad bitch 99: Mine is being aggressively gay and affectionate

Fame works quicker: I always go with ‘speaking an excessive amount and hoping that you like me back’ might not work for everyone

Bad bitch 99: it worked for me

Fame works quicker: Thanks, babe. love you

The woild is ya erster: mine is playing the kazoo while shirtless at 3 am and hoping that my natural charm is enough for people to like me

Mothman is coming: Valid

Mothman is coming: I usually go with making people watch conspiracy documentaries with me and asking them to come to my dance recitals in hopes that they’ll find me hot

Wise girl: please don’t ever let Race or Albert date anyone

Santa Feeee: Agreed

Supersized McShizzle: Annabeth, you got Aquaman to fall for you what did you do?

Wise girl:…

Seaweed brain: She told me that I drool in my sleep when I met her for the first time

McMeme: Mood

Santa Feeee: can we stop talking about this? We have more important things to decide

**Santa feeee has added fight me to the chat**

Santa Feeee: like for instance whose house we’re doing movie night at

Santa feeee: the new kids are also invited btw

Supersized McShizzle: Sweet, never been invited to one before

Seaweed brain: Me neither tbh

Fight me: you guys make me sad

Gayest bitch on the block: I vote Jack’s house

Gayest Bitch on the block: everyone who votes Jack’s house say ‘I’

I lost my shoe: I

Fight me: Can we stay over?

Santa Feeee: yeah of course medda will make you anyway

Fight me: I

Poor guy’s head is spinning: I

Brooklyn Bitch: I

Fame works quicker: I

Bad bitch 99: I

Gayest bitch on the block: so it’s decided Gayest bitch on the block: Jack’s house at 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all so much for the support I've already gotten I'm really happy that you're enjoying this!
> 
> Also, I go to school in Germany so literally everything they will be doing in class that will be mentioned will be based on what we do here around the same time/grade
> 
> Secondly, you can pry the headcanon that Race is Italian from my cold dead hands
> 
> Lastly, I hope you enjoyed the fact that this is more of a chat fic (only this chapter) and I'll probably write the next chapter from Annabeth's POV as well since it didn't show very much in this chapter


	5. Movie night

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The demigods go to movie night as promised!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright so I decided to add a bunch of more newsies (don't ask why) so if I forgot any in the tags please let me know and I will add them.
> 
> As always comments and kudos are much appreciated, thanks for reading!

“Wanna bet which god’s their parent?” I looked up from my book and towards the kitchen counter where Leo sat atop it while everyone else was lunged around him on either a bar chair or on pillows on the ground or in case of Jason standing. Deciding that the conversation was interesting enough I put my book down and joined them in the kitchen area. When I arrived Percy handed me a glass of coke and gave me a curt nod acknowledging that I was now part of the conversation.

“I’m saying that Race’s a son of Hermes.” Everyone nodded and agreed.

“Yeah man, Albert as well. They’re the definition of Hermes kids.” Percy spoke smiling slightly. To be honest they did remind me of Travis and Conner. It would be interesting and slightly dangerous to see those four interacting.

“Davey is definitely a son of Athena.” I smiled smugly when everyone agreed as well. Those three were arguably the easiest. They all fit the stereotype of Hermes and Athena.

“What about Jackie boy?” Leo piped up once more, “I think he’s an Aphrodite kid.”

“What? No, I think he’s more of a Nike kid.” We turned to Jason who stood with his arms across his chest.

“No! He’s basically the leader of their friend group, the only way he’d managed that would be if he had charmspeak or something.”

Jason shook his head, “You’ve got it all wrong, man, the only way he could’ve won when they did that strike for more student freedom is if he’s a son of Nike.”

“Or if he had charmspeak.”

“Wanna bet?” Leo nodded immediately and stuck out his hand to shake Jason’s. The other grinned and shook his hand twice, “You’re going down Leo.”

After their bet was settled Hazel got up and walked to the fridge pulling out a bottle of water before speaking, “What about Crutchie? He seems very nice where would you place him?”

I thought for a while. Although it may seem easy at first glance it’s actually harder the more you think about it. Judging from Leo’s face I could tell he had an idea but wasn’t saying anything yet. Throughout the past couple of months, I’d realized that Leo and weren’t as different as I’d originally thought. We were both incredibly smart and both dealt with being told we weren’t enough. I’d decided that I’d have to spend a lot more time with him, he seemed to be able to think fast enough to keep up with me. Plus he was genuinely funny.

“I think he’s a son of Hebe.” He finally spoke up grinning from ear to ear. I looked at him weirdly.

“Hebe?”

“Yep.”

“I think he’d be Apollo,” Piper added.

“I mean Apollo could be as well but I haven’t seen anything Apollo-like from him other than his constant happiness,” Will mused happily.

“Sure but that could still be enough.”

The conversation went on like this for a while more with us guessing and occasionally betting. Ultimately we decided that there were a few that we were completely sure of, Race and Albert were sons of Hermes, Davey, Les and, Sarah were children of Athena and Romeo was definitely a son of Aphrodite. It was interesting to see how each one of us explained their reasoning for choosing a certain god for a certain Newsie. For instance, how Hazel had said that she believed that Specs would be a son of Demeter because he just gave her that vibe. We all believed her because, well, hey she’s good with the mist.

At 5:30 we all got up and packed our things, to go over to Jack’s place because of the sleepover. It would be the first time that we would meet everyone. Jack said that a few more kids would be coming as well so that would be fun and judging from their names it would be hell. Who in Tartarus decides that ‘buttons’ or ‘smalls’ or ‘Kid blink’ would be good nicknames? I seriously had no idea but Percy, Piper, Leo, and Will seemed excited to meet them so I suppose it would be fine. And if not I’ll just hang out with Davey, he’s nice and calm.

Percy, who had assured us that, no he didn’t need Google maps he was perfectly fine looking at the subway and bus lines to figure out how to get all the way to the suburbs to Jack’s house, had also midway decided that we were definitely on the wrong train so that was fun. Luckily I’d made sure to google it just in case so we quickly changed trains and arrived just slightly before 7. The house they lived in was a nice light yellow shade that made it look very welcome. I rung the doorbell and not more than 5 seconds later a woman who looked slightly intimidating but still welcoming opened the door. She grinned and ushered us all into the house. Once inside she led us to a door that I assume belonged to the Basement.

“It’s just wonderful that Jack has made some new friends. As much as I love them, the others are just so irresponsible. They’re like sons and daughters to me but they can be a little much sometimes.”

“We’re glad to be here. We just started school so it’s nice to come here.” Percy spoke, his usual charm oozing out. The woman reminded me a lot of Sally, Percy must have thought so as well.

“Oh where are my manners, I’m Medda.” She stretched out her hand and we all shook it and introduced ourselves. I was last to do so and she looked at me a little while longer. She then looked at my shirt, an old camp shirt, and smiled even wider than before.

“Annabeth Chase! It is so good to see you again!”

“I’m sorry?” What did she mean, see me again? I’d never seen her in my life, had I?

“Oh, you must not remember me! You were under so much stress and fear when we met at Camp Half-Blood and I left soon after anyway.”

“You’re a demigod?!” Percy screeched. She laughed once more while making drinks for us.

“I am, I used to be councilor of the Apollo cabin, you know?” Suddenly Will’s face lit up like Christmas tree.

“You’re Medda Larkin! The Medda Larkin! You’re a legend among the Apollo cabin!”

Suddenly everything snapped into place and I realized where I’d met her before. When we first came to camp she was the one to take care of us and sit by our side while we healed. I must have been so out of it that I’d forgotten all about her. Now that I think about her she was there for a few more weeks afterward.

“Wait, so do you know why we’re here? Did Chiron tell you?” I was ecstatic to see her again and even more so when she gave a curt nod.

“Well, I haven’t talked to Chiron in quite some time now but I can imagine that you are here that jack and the others make it to camp safely?”

“So you know that they are demigods?” She shook her head.

“I’m not sure about all of them. Jack’s mother asked me to take care of him when she couldn’t anymore. I took him in gladly and I’ve simply always had my suspicions about him and the others.”

“But you don’t know who their godly parents are? Does Jack know that’s he’s a demigod?”

“No, he doesn’t and concerning who the father is, well, I have a strong inkling. I would recognize a child of Apollo anywhere.”

“Apollo?” Leo asked slowly. She nodded and he let out a litany of curses that got him a glare form Medda but then turned to Jason.

“Guess neither of us wins then, huh?” Jason shrugged and took one of the glasses on the kitchen counter that Medda had prepared. Now it also made sense why the Newsies had survived for so long. If they had a strong and renowned demigod watching over them that would scare monsters off.

Suddenly she laughed once more and patted a few of us on the shoulder pushing us toward the basement door.

“Jack must be waiting. Go ahead, we can talk some more later, yeah?” We nodded and said our thanks before going downstairs. At the end of the stairs stood couch and several beanbags or chairs around a TV. Jack and Crutchie were already sitting there sharing a bag of popcorn as they chose a movie to watch. When they heard us coming down the stairs they grinned waving.

“Hey! The others will be coming soon as well. They’re never on time. Well, except for Crutchie, but he came directly after school so that’s cheating.” Crutchie hit Jack over the head but otherwise turned back to us, his bright smile ever present.

“I’m glad you guys came. We were afraid you was gonna bail on us.” Leo scoffed and stepped forward jumping over one of the couches making himself comfortable.

“What? We’d never bail on movie night! Plus you guys are fun, more fun than some of those sourpusses.” He pointed in our direction and Jack and Crutchie laughed. Reyna was the next to sit down, next to Crutchie probably thinking that he would be the least annoying of the lot. We all chose our seats, surprised to find that when most seats were full (Jack usually only had nine or ten people over apparently, not twenty!) that Jack had a lot more mattresses and chairs lying around the basement, which apparently also functioned as his room.

At approximately 7:30 Race showed up along with two guys we hadn’t met yet. They introduced themselves as Ike and mike and sat down on the floor in front of the couch Crutchie, Reyna and Jack were occupying. Next came two a short but buff looking guy and a tall, and apparently permanently smiling guy. Jack said that they were Spot and Buttons and I remembered Spot to be the guy who bailed on school on Monday to go hang out with a couple of his friends in Brooklyn. Buttons seemed fairly nice and sat down next to Ike and Mike. After them came the Jacobs, this time with Les, Romeo and Specs who sat together in the love seat (ironic really), Albert who naturally sat next to Race, and four more people we hadn’t met. Those happened to be the ones with the weird nicknames. Mush and Kid Blink, who were dating, Elmer whether that was his real name or not I had absolutely no idea and lastly a short girl called smalls. When everyone was seated and introduced the movie began. Jack had chosen Chicago with no complaints from anyone. That I found to be slightly surprising considering it was a musical but alright. Throughout the movie, whenever there was a song everyone, literally everyone except for us sang along. And I’m glad to say that damn they were good. It’s like they could all be kids of Apollo! Which they weren’t but you know what I mean!

When the movie ended we sat in silence for a while before Reyna spoke up voicing my exact thoughts,

“You’re all very good singers, did you take classes?” Elmer laughed,

“Yeah, we all go to dance and singing classes together. It’s how we met in the first place.”

“Yeah, it’s also how we stayed in contact after we went to different high schools.” Smalls beamed, “We met Katherine at school later and Sarah sued to come to class with Davey in Les but not anymore.”

“Wait so you survived with all these idiots all alone up until high school?” Reyna asked bewildered. Smalls laughed once more and laughed. This got her a bunch of “hey”s and “we’re not idiots” from the boys.

“But now you guys are here so it’s not a problem anymore.”

“Pf, as if it ever was! We’re a delight to be around!” Race called out and the room erupted in laughter.


	6. Race got 99 problems and a bf is 90 of them

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Race complains about his boyfriend and Piper makes (un)surprising observations about Race and Albert's relationship or lack thereof.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Firstly, this is more like chapter 5.5 and should not be counted as an entire chapter. It's more like a filler-chapter of sorts. I really just wrote this bc I had the idea, I fell into ralbert hell again and I felt like I had to put something up.  
> I hope you guys like it anyway, even though it is very short.

We sat that way, together in the room just talking quietly, after the movie had ended. Les had gone upstairs to sit ask Medda to read him something before bed. Apparently, whenever Les stayed over he got a separate room upstairs right next to Medda’s room so that in case he had a bad dream she would be there immediately.

I myself decided not to take part in any conversations but rather simply listen to the others. It was quite interesting to see them interact with each other and us as well. Unsurprisingly Jack and Percy got along fantastically while Davey and Annabeth seemed to hit it off equally as well. I really wasn’t surprised at all at that. What did, however, surprise me was the dynamic between Race and Albert.

Before I hadn’t noticed it but now that I watched Race complain about something, Albert seemed almost sad. Of course, you’d only notice it if you were a child of Aphrodite, but it was still there. I decided to listen more closely in hopes of finding out exactly what they were talking about.

“He is so fucking clingy! It is so frustrating!” Albert laughed slightly, albeit it seemed a little forced.

“Why are you with him in the first place if he’s so annoying?”

“I don’t know! He said he had a crush on me, over text by the way, and I was like ‘ok I guess I like you too or something?’ right, because I had absolutely no idea what it was that I felt toward him!” That I could relate to, sometimes figuring out your own feelings was much harder than other peoples',

“And then he said that we were dating and I was too lazy to correct him so now we’re kinda dating.” “Race, what the fuck? Why the hell would you do that?!” Spot asked incredulously. Almost everyone else in the room nodded. Apparently, they had all started listening once they realized it was about Race’s dating life.

“I don’t know! And now I’m realizing that I don’t even like him that way!”

“So break up with him.” Davey provided helpfully.

“Yeah, man, that’s no way to do a relationship.”

“Like you’re any better, Jack. Your ex-girlfriends are dating each other.” Jack looked offended for a second before shrugging, seemingly giving him the benefit of the doubt. As the conversation about Race’s boyfriend, and what he had asked and how clingy he was and how possessive he was being, went on, I decided to watch Albert more. He didn’t seem to notice. Albert was looking at Race, who was currently turned away from him, like he was the moon. Eyes wide full of adoration and something else. Maybe pain. I couldn’t tell. He looked away every time Race turned to him. Whenever he did, Albert would put on a grin and poke fun at him. But the adoration never vanished from Albert’s eyes. Judging from the knowing smiles on Davey’s and Katherine’s faces I wasn’t the only one who’d picked up on this. I’d have to ask them about that later. Or tomorrow, after all, Specs had suggested going to the mall together and hanging out there for a while. It seemed like a fun idea and would give us an opportunity to get to know them better once more.

“Dude, you have to break up with him. Seriously.” Buttons said suddenly. It was silent for a second but then a chorus of ‘Yeah, man’ and ‘You have to’ came from the others. Albert was the only one who stayed silent.

“Buttons, if God really loves me he’ll drop kick me into hell before I do that.”

“Race, be serious. How long ahs this been going on for anyway?” He shrugged and made a pained expression leaning backwards into Alberts chest. Albert’s face went slightly red, not enough for anyone but met o notice, but he didn’t push Race away either. He simply rested his hands around Race’s shoulders keeping him on his chest.

“We got together in like February, so that’d be four or five months now? Yeah, something like that.” Albert sighed and flicked Race’s head.

“Man, you need to break up. You can’t lie to him every time he wants to hang out. C’mon that must be exhausting.”

“Whatever. Since when is my love life the most interesting topic here anyway?”

“Since you’ve been the resident fuck boy of our friend group.” Katherine smiled and Crutchie coughed. Katherine sighed, “I’m sorry, Crutchie is right. You and Albert are the resident fuck boys.”

Everyone laughed while Race and Albert simply pouted. The fact that Albert seemed to have some kind of feelings for Race has just made the whole ‘Who’s whose godly parent’ thing a whole lot more interesting. I decided that we would have to tell them about demigods as soon as possible, I really wanted to know who everyone’s parent was. Maybe some of them would be Roman. Either way, tomorrow would be interesting, given that we have never managed to keep a low profile in public, like ever. I wonder what kind of trouble someone in our group would start tomorrow again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Ok so, I won't be writing a lot for the next three weeks since the last three weeks of the school year are always hell. When summer break starts I can kiss 9th-grade goodbye and chill for six weeks (Until I gotta go back to school bc for whatever reason 10th-grade exist). Hopefully, I'll be able to write a lot more.  
> I already have it planned until chapter 13 so now I just have to find the time to write it.
> 
> Also fun fact: The thing with Race and his boyfriend is based on my personal experience


	7. What is a Santa Fe?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The dumbasses go to Jacobi's and perform, the seven a thoroughly confused

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Alright, so I've been thinking about changing the POV to the third person? Like still focused on one character but written from the third person. Would you guys be okay with that, I mean would you still read it or is that too confusing?
> 
> This chapter is Frank's POV

 I woke up around 7 am to find everyone still asleep. Actually, no, that’s incorrect. Jack and Crutchie’s places in the former’s bed had been abandoned. Everyone was still sleeping. I got up and grabbed a change of clothes getting changed in the bathroom. When I was finished I found Annabeth waking up as well as Leo. The waved but otherwise stayed busy yawning. After I put all my stuff back in my bag I joined them in the corner, us half-bloods had claimed the evening before.

“Hey, we need to talk.” Annabeth nodded and turned to wake the rest of us up. We made our way upstairs and outside in front of the house. The sun was still coming up and the people in the neighboring houses began waking up and getting ready for work slowly. I looked around to make sure everyone had come and was pleased to find everyone here, though I wouldn’t have minded if Leo wasn’t present. Unfortunately, he was kind of needed in this conversation.

“We need to start planning how we bring them to camp,” Annabeth spoke before I could say anything. I nodded in her direction in acknowledgment.

“Are we sure that they’re like us? I haven’t seen any of them do anything weird or remotely half-blood like.” Percy asked.

“Chiron has never been wrong before. If he says that they’re demigods then I trust him on that decision.”

“But then it’s weird that they haven’t been claimed yet, right? You’re supposed to be claimed at 16.” Will was interrupted by a yawn, “How old are they even?”

“That’s the thing.” Piper looked at all of us before continuing, “They’re all different ages. Albert, Race, and Spot are 16, Jack, Crutchie and Davey are 17, Kath and Sarah are 18 and, Specs and Romeo are gonna turn 16 soon as well.”

“Which means that technically everyone except for the last two should be claimed by now.” Nico supplied helpfully. We all nodded. Everyone went silent, trying to figure out why it hadn’t happened yet. Personally, I didn’t know. After all, we don’t have a rule like that in Camp Jupiter so I wouldn’t really know. Still, it felt off.

 After a while, Leo hesitantly spoke up.

“What if, the gods just didn’t know that they existed?”

“And how exactly would that work? The gods know everything that goes on here.” Nico crossed his arms and glared at Leo.

 He glared right back while speaking, “Obviously they don’t. They’ve all known each other since they were kids, right? So maybe Medda made sure that no matter what foster home they were at, they were protected from this whole demigod thing.”

“Ok, but how can you even do that? She’s a demigod herself, so monsters would be after her.”

Percy looked confused and I honestly couldn’t blame him. This was too complicated for this early.

 

Annabeth looked at Leo like she’d hit the jackpot, “Oh my gods! That’s right! If she made sure that none of them ever got expelled, got treated for their ADHD and dyslexia, warded off all monsters and masked their smell then it would be virtually impossible for the Gods to know that they exist! Unless of course if they’d been stalking the kids since they were born but I don’t think that’s very plausible.”

 

If that were the case then they’d all be children on minor Gods who aren’t bound by the big three’s rule and don’t have a strong enough smell for monsters to find them anyway. Everyone nodded and Percy began leading the way down the street. Apparently, he wanted some cookies and drinks, which they could conveniently use as an excuse as to why they left the house if the others asked. Everyone was chattering among themselves, talking about school or things they wanted to do at camp once we got back. Although I’d originally been skeptical of these people and I’d thought that they’d only be trouble I was starting to arm up to them. Some were as annoying as I thought they’d be but others were surprisingly pleasant.

“Hey,” Hazel smiled and walked a little slower to join me in the back of the group. Even though it was still cold this early in the morning seeing Hazel smile this calmly at me made me go all warm. I don’t think I’d ever grow tired of that feeling.

“Hey,” I smiled back and grabbed her hand. Her hands were warm, like always.

“What do you think of them?”

“What do you mean?” She laughed a little at my confusion.

“I mean, they’re nice, aren’t they? I think they’d fit right in at camp-half-blood.”

“I suppose, but how do you know they aren’t roman?” Hazel went quiet for a moment, contemplating my question.

“I think that doesn’t matter much. They’d fit in in either camp. They are as much disciplined as they are passionate.”

“I haven’t seen them being disciplined once since we arrived here.” I held the store door open for her as we walked into the small 7/11. She thanked me and then answered, “Well, to be a dancer you need immense amounts of both discipline and passion, right? To be able to do all that while making it look easy, I think that is amazing and could be useful to them when training how to fight.”

“True, but who says they’ll be any good at fighting in the first place? I mean, no offenses but these kids are just high schoolers.”

“But so were we. Stil,l we learned. Plus have you seen how many times they came to school with bruises orband-aidss?” That made me think. Now that she mentioned it they did show up to school with bruises surprisingly often. I didn’t want to think about how or where they got them. They all seemed accustomed to it though, no one ever mentioned anything after all.

Percy, Leo and Piper chose the drinks and snacks and Jason and Will took them to the cashier to pay for them while the others mingled around the shop waiting for Jason and Will to finish and get going.

The way back to Jack’s house was quite but in no way awkward. The sun had fully come up by this point and it wasn’t quite as cold anymore. Though, I was probably one of the luckier guys in the group, since most of us had forgotten to put on a jacket.

When we arrived back at Jack’s house Medda opened the door to let us in without saying anything about our absence.

“You can wait up here, Jack’s lot said that they’d come upstairs once you’re back. I’ll go tell them just make yourselves comfortable, alright?” We nodded and she left to go tell the others.

“Nice to see you back! Ready to go?” Specs yelled even before he was all the way in the living room. The others followed right behind him. Medda who pulled them aside and into the kitchen stopped Albert, Race and Spot on their way to us. That didn’t seem to be too uncommon as no one gave any reaction.

“It’s like seven thirty, isn’t a bit early to go to the mall?” Piper asked, her mouth filled with chips.

“Oh haven’t you heard? We’re going to Jacobi’s first.” Romeo answered grinning from behind Specs.

“What’s that, like a diner or something?”

“Basically. In turn for free foo,d we sometimes perform small dance numbers there or help clean up. We go every Saturday and Wednesday.”

“Who even came up with that?” Percy asked.

“Yeah, can I join?” Leo jumped off the table he was sitting on and walked a little closer to the other group.

“Sure man, the more the merrier, right?” Romeo slung an arm around Leo and motioned at everyone else. While they were busy chattering Katherine turned to Percy and our group.

“According to Jack, Jacobi was the one who came up with it. Says they couldn’t pay for their meal once so he offered the deal, saying if they did entertainment they’d get freed food that day. It’s quite fun actually.”

“Is their dancing that good?”

“You’ll just have to see later, they sing as well you know.” Before anyone could say anything to that she turned away and again and everyone began moving out of the house and toward the several cars parked in front of the House. Everyone naturally split up between the cars, most likely choosing the ones they came in the day before. After a few seconds of awkward waiting, they motioned for us to get in as well. I joined Hazel, Jason and, Crutchie in Jack’s car. Once everyone got settled Jack started driving.

“You ain’t ever had real food until you’ve been Jacobi’s.” Crutchie said from the passengers seat.

“Katherine said you sing as well, is that true?” Hazel asked curiously. Crutchie laughed and Jack snorted.

“Yeah we do, usually only the ones who don’t dance but sometimes all of us.” Jack answered while making a left turn. Crutchie nodded and pushed his crutch around until he seemed comfortable.

“And who are the ones who don’t dance?”

“That’d be me, as you can imagine,” Crutchie said pointing at himself and then at Jack, “Him, Sarah, Les and most of the time Katherine. Sometimes, Henry, Smalls, Finch, Mush, Buttons, Splasher, Tommy Boy, JoJo and, Mike and Ike will join us as well. They all dance.”

“Yeah, uh, what’s that all about? The names I mean.” Jason asked.

“Oh those,” Crutchie turned to Jack, “You wanna explain that or are ya gonna let me do it?” Jack motioned for Crutchie to continue and he nodded.

“Basically, even though most of us met each other at Dance or singing class, a few of us knew each other beforehand. And when we met making names for ourselves felt like having a new, a good family. It felt nice to not have to use the names our deadbeat parents gave to us. Sure some of us stuck with their names but most didn’t. It was our way of making our own family essentially.”

“Yeah, for instance, I stuck with ‘Jack’ because I was happy with the name, it was the name Medda gave me and that made it nice. Others didn’t have that luck so they made their own.”

“It took a while to figure out names for everyone, since not everyone had features that could be turned into a nickname, like Mush.”

“How is Mush from a feature?” Jason asked.

“He was missing his front teeth when we met so all his words sounded mushed, thus we called him Mush.”

“Yeah, I busted my leg so they called me Crutchie, easy as that.”

“Where’s Race’s name from?” Hazel wondered out loud. Crutchie looked over at Jack for a second before answering.

“Don’t mention this to him, ok? He doesn’t like the story much.”

“Ok?” We all nodded and Crutchie sighed but continued.

“Back when we were younger, Racer used to hang around the Racetrack a lot because his dad used to work there. When his dad was arrested and we met him we started calling him that. He still goes there but not as much anymore.”

“And he’s really okay with that name?” Hazel was the first to speak.

“Says his happiest memories with his dad are form the track, says it reminds him of things that make him happy. Plus no one can deny his gambling problem.”

We nodded and didn’t ask any further as Jack pulled into the parking lot at the side of the road. There, at the corner of Dover and South was an old Diner with bold letters on the window. Across the road Brooklyn Bridge was visible and lively as ever in the morning. I had to admit I had been in New York before but I’d never bothered the come down all the way to lower Manhattan. We had been the first ones the arrive, after us came Katherine, Sarah, Davey and Les in one car, Specs, Romeo, Annabeth and, Percy in another and Leo, Piper, Reyna, Nico and Will in Davey’s car which they’d borrowed earlier. We all walked to the diner but then stopped in front of the doors. A few sat down at the curb, others perched on the big cement flowerpots or simply stayed standing or leaning at the wall. Well everyone except for our group.

“What are we waiting for exactly?” Nico asked clearly annoyed at having to wait.

“Albert texted earlier that they’d take a little longer. They should be here any minute now.” Romeo said helpfully. And right he was, not even two minutes later Albert, Race and Spot showed up on… skateboards? Gods, they’re such-

“Idiots.” I turned to find out who had said that to find Annabeth staring at them like she was 100% done. Albert and Race were sharing a skateboard while Spot drove in front of them carrying a messenger bag. When the got off Spot tossed the bag to Jack who caught it with only a small glare on his part.

“Medda said you forgot your shoes again.”

“I’m aware, otherwise I wouldn’t be here waiting for your, short stack.” Spot opened his mouth to respond but Race put a hand between the two signaling both of them to stop. That I’d see the day where Race is actually the responsible friend, who would’ve thought?

“What’s it gonna be today?” I didn’t understand the question but the rest of the so-called Newsies seemed to understand it just fine. Jack wanted to say something but before he could voice his thought a chorus of ‘Not Santa Fe again’ erupted. Jack looked hurt for a second before going on about how it was a superior choice to whatever else they could chose.

“Just for that, I vote King Of New York!” Albert yelled over all the noise and everyone (except for Jack) quickly agreed.  He huffed but turned to Katherine anyway.

“You got your shoes?” She nodded hitting the sports bag around her shoulder. I couldn’t tell what shoes they were talking about but to be fair it was about dance so I knew basically nothing anyway. Everyone nodded and walked inside the Diner. Once the people sitting there noticed us entering they cheered loudly, some calling their names other simply whistling.  They seemed to be regulars who already knew that when the Newsies were there it meant entertainment. The seven of us sat down in one booth, it involved a lot of squishing but luckily Leo and Nico were both pin-sized. Sarah, Crutchie, Spot and, Jack sat in another. Jack seemed to still be annoyed at the choice of King of New York, whatever that was anyway.

“I see you boys brought company this time. They dancing as well?”

“No, Sir, they’re just our friends.” Crutchie smiled kindly and Jacobi nodded.

“What’s it gonna be today? Not Santa Fe again, right? Folks are getting tired a’ the same sad song over and over again.” Jack looked insulted but didn’t protest this time.

“No. They chose King of New York this time. So we’ll need-“

Jacobi interrupted him, “Three tables, seven chairs and a whole lot of spoons. I know.” Jacobi left to go fetch the things they needed. Crutchie told us to just order whatever we wanted, that it was on the house. In the booth next to us everyone else had taken to putting on tap shoes and getting brooms. What the fuck was going on? Sarah pulled out a speaker and connected her phone with it. Everyone who would be performing now got two spoons; except for Les and Katherine they just kind of went to their place on the makeshift stage. Aaaaand then they started dancing. Well actually first they were talking but it didn’t make much sense to me. The dancing was nice, slightly confusing but nice nonetheless. There was a lot of tap dancing and spoon fighting involved. In the end, it got us free food though so that was nice. Percy seemed entranced by their ability to move like that while Annabeth seemed surprisingly pleased. I wouldn’t have pegged her for someone who enjoys dancing or singing that matter. The signing was weird as well, cool but weird. I guess it was only weird to me though because literally, everyone else seemed to understand perfectly what was going on.

“Ok, and why exactly was Jack pissed that you chose this instead of whatever the fuck Santa Fe was?”

Crutchie turned to me surprised, “That’s because Jack’s a drama queen who likes to sing dramatic solos but because that kinda gets boring after a while we like to perform other songs instead.”

“And what’s so bad about King Of New York in particular?” Crutchie laughed,

“Oh, that’s because Jack isn’t in it at all.”


End file.
